Jamaal Lascelles admits his pride at captaining Newcastle United to promotion and the Championship title was tempered by his belief that the Magpies should never had been in that position in the first place.

The 23-year-old insists that United had a talented-enough squad to have avoided relegation during the 2015/16 campaign and therefore, to a certain extent, the Newcastle players were merely righting the wrong of the previous season last term.

Lascelles does stress that the memories of leading the club to promotion will always stay with him, but he is already targeting re-establishing the Magpies in the Premier League next season.

“From the start the manager speaking to me and saying he wanted me to be the captain, and gave me his reasons for it - then obviously we had the expectation that we were going to gain promotion and win the league.

Newcastle United captain Jamaal Lascelles (Image: Newcastle United)

“But to actually achieve that goal is massive and hopefully we can carry on the positive note and take Newcastle even higher than what we have just done.

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“The main thing is just working hard in pre-season, enjoying ourselves, getting to know the rest of the team and making sure we’re ready for the first game of the season because it’s going to be a tough one.

“They’re [Tottenham Hotspur are] probably thinking they want to come here and beat us because of what happened at the end of the season before last.

“They’re a good side, but we’re a good side too - and I think at St James’ Park any team that comes here we can beat on the day.

“We shouldn’t really fear anyone. Next season I think we’ll do really well with our home games. Last year because of the expectations, with everyone thinking we should win and walkover teams, it added a bit of pressure and made us feel anxious - but I think it will be completely different next season and more positive.

“It’s going to be nice playing in the Premier League in front of those fans because that’s what they’re used to, they’re not used to playing against Championship teams.

“We’ve given them a little bit back and we want to give them more now.”